New Tool Fertilizes Fields and Reduces Runoff
Nutrients

A new field tool developed by
Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
scientists applies poultry litter to fields in shallow bands, reducing runoff
of excess nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen.

Poultry littera combination of poultry manure and bedding material,
such as pine shavings or peanut or rice hullsis a natural fertilizer. The
conventional method of applying it to fields utilizes a broadcast spreader,
which scatters the litter across the soil surface. Because it rests on top of
the soil, the litter is vulnerable to runoff in heavy rains.

A new tool developed by ARS agricultural engineer
Thomas
R. Way and his colleagues at the agency's
National
Soil Dynamics Laboratory in Auburn, Ala., offers a solution. The tool digs
shallow trenches about two to three inches deep in the soil. It then places the
poultry litter in the trenches and covers it with soil. Burying the litter
significantly reduces the risk of runoff.

Designed to attach to a tractor, the litter applicator can dig four trenches
as it is pulled through the field.

Collaborators in six states have used Ways litter applicator in their
research, with positive results. In one project, Way worked with
Dan
Pote, a soil scientist at the
ARS
Dale Bumpers Small Farms Research Center in Booneville, Ark. The scientists
applied the litter to bermudagrass forage plots, and then watered the field
with a rainfall simulator.

When the litter was applied with Ways new tool, phosphorus and
nitrogen runoff were 80 to 95 percent lower than when the litter was applied in
the conventional manner.

Way has also collaborated with ARS scientists throughout the country to
examine the tools effectiveness with different crops. They used the new
implement in experiments in corn fields in Alabama, Kentucky and Maryland;
cotton fields in Mississippi and Georgia; and in bermudagrass and tall fescue
stands in Alabama.

Their results showed that the new tool has the potential to reduce water
pollution significantly when used to apply poultry litter to a variety of
crops. Now ARS is pursuing a patent and seeking companies to manufacture and
market the litter applicator.